Public Opinion Regarding Climate Science and NASA @CarseySchool

There is an overwhelming consensus among climate scientists that the evidence, some of it from satellites, establishes that human activities are changing Earth’s climate.3 More than 60 percent of the U.S. public now agrees with this scientific consensus, but a substantial minority—around 30 percent—believes instead that climate is changing mainly for natural reasons. Fewer than 10 percent maintain that climate is not changing.4 The gap between near-unanimous agreement among scientists on the reality of human-caused climate change and weaker agreement among politicians and the public raises questions for social science: Can climate science communication become more effective at sharing the insights from research? Or do the people rejecting human-caused change distrust scientists more generally, rendering better science communication moot? Who else, besides scientists, might they trust instead for information on this topic? To find out, we placed the following questions on two nationwide Polar, Environment, and Science (POLES) surveys conducted before and after the election, in August and November/December 2016.

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Food for Thought:

Based on 2016 IMF Report the fossil fuel industry extracted $700B (billion) in annual tax payer subsidies. They paid $117 million in campaign contributions and they have 720 lobbyists in Washington, D.C. SOURCE